Eat 6 Meals A Day & Lose Weight

If you frequent a gym or know anybody who works out, then you have probably heard of a habit that involves eating many small meals throughout the day. Although it is still an uncommon practice, small circles (mainly bodybuilders) have been taking up this philosophy. Does this type of diet really help to shed pounds?

what's it all about?

Growing up, the majority of us are taught to eat three large meals a day. Breakfast usually entails consuming something small; lunch is often composed of something handy, like a sandwich, and supper is customarily a feast where the whole family meets to gorge in an escapade of osmosis and gluttony.

Now we have a new eating habit on the horizon that's rocking the boat, so what to believe?

The answer, as many experts would like you to believe, is that we should not eat three large meals a day. Eating many small meals is becoming an ever-popular practice, and with good reason — nutritionists and health buffs are adopting this new philosophy and getting great results.

The main theory around this eating habit is that smaller meals can help one lose weight and absorb nutrients more efficiently. Experts believe that the body can only handle so much at one serving without eliminating or storing excess nutrients.

Eating the same calories spread out over smaller meals four to six times during the day is supposed to raise the body's thermic effect, resulting in 10% more calories being burned, according to Leslie Bonci, R.D., director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

the proof

The proof is in the pudding, so to speak, and the benefits are too good to ignore. A study conducted at St. Michael's Hospital in Ontario, Canada, observed two groups of individuals. One was subjected to a common three-meals-a-day diet while another was asked to consume over a dozen small ones throughout the day.

At the end of the study, the "nibblers" showed considerably lower levels of low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the bad kind of cholesterol that sticks to the arteries).

Another study conducted at the University of Limburg in the Netherlands revealed that individuals who consume mini-meals had more stable carbohydrate and fat oxidization levels, while "gorgers" didn't, making them more prone to weight gain.

the benefits

As stated above, eating smaller meals more frequently stabilizes nutrient oxidization levels, making the body more efficient at burning food, so anybody who wants to lose weight should adopt this eating principle. Eating smaller meals is also believed to lower blood cholesterol.

Furthermore, nibbling throughout the day prevents long stretches of starvation. Going from noon to 6:00pm without eating usually ends with an enormous supper. This is a very bad eating habit seeing as our metabolism can only handle a certain amount of calories, carbs, fat, and protein in one sitting.